Award criteria
The jury will rate each entry on the basis of the following:
The jury may decide not to choose three finalists if it believes the level to be below the standard.
All decisions made by the jury are final and cannot be subject to any appeal.
Jury
The jury of each category is comprised of experts in their respective fields such as:
Chair - John Baulch
John has over 40 years’ experience of working in the toy trade press, dating back to 1980. In 2011, he launched his own toy trade magazine – Toy World – which has become indispensable reading for anyone connected with the toy trade. John is also personally responsible for writing the Friday Blog, an online column which offers insight and analysis on the latest developments from the world of toys each week.
Astrid Specht
Astrid Specht is the acting editor in chief of German trade magazines TOYS and 1st Steps. While TOYS magazine has been dealing with all things toys, games, licensing, books, gifting, DIY, creative and stationery for more than 50 years, 1st Steps magazine has been reaching out to retailers and manufactures of the baby and toddler industry as well as young parents and midwives since 2010. Astrid has hosted panel discussions, given industry talks and was a member of the jury board for the Bologna Licensing Awards 2024 and the Kids Design Award at Kind + Jugend before it was discontinued. She is passionate about providing two industries with stories on new developments and up to date product information and she loves everything that makes the lives of children brighter, happier and more fun.
Dr Amanda Gummer
Amanda has a PhD in neuropsychology, the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and over 20 years experience working with children and families. Widely considered as the UK’s go to expert on play, toys and child development, she combines her theoretical knowledge with a refreshingly pragmatic approach to family life, that resonates both with parents and professionals. Her book ‘Play’ was published in May 2105 and has been translated into two different languages with extracts being published in the USA’s Toy Industry Association’s Genius of Play initiative.
Amanda’s international profile is growing rapidly – she is spoke at the European Parliament in Sept 2019 on child development and play and in Dallas in October discussing her research. Amanda is regularly in the media, continues to take an active role in research, and is often involved in government policy around children’s issues.
Dr Amanda Norman
Dr Amanda Norman has worked in all phases of education, focusing on psychoeducation and play for over 30 years. She is currently based at the University of Winchester, teaching and researching early childhood, alongside a long track of external roles as a Froebel teaching consultant, BSA co-lead for childhood and with Alliance4Children as an early years lead.
Her research interests include infant pedagogies and early childhood play, contributing to the call for play to be a legal requirement across communities in England, which culminated into a parliamentary event in 2024 and again in 2025, presenting the Power2Play report, as leading author on ITV.
She is drawn to a person-centred approach and is influenced by a Froebelian philosophy, exploring the international nexus between historical and contemporary childhoods. As an executive member on the International Froebel Society she regularly presents at conferences in support of play.
Alongside her academic role she is internationally widely published, specifically bridging therapeutic play into early education whilst retaining her role as an early years consultant, working collaboratively with families and professionals in the sector, as a group facilitator and qualified counsellor.
Fabio Guaricci
With over 20 years of experience in the toy industry, Fabio is the founder and Creative Director of TOY Design®, a design agency that works with global clients such as Hasbro, Ravensburger, De Agostini, etc. As designer he aims at the design of beautiful and meaningful play products that, having a great play value, are capable to last and bring joy to people of all ages and abilities.
He is Contract Professor in 2 universities in Italy and design leader for university-level courses and workshops. At Politecnico di Milano he is among the founders of the COmeta lab, exploring the potential of design for autistic people. In 2020, he launched TOY Design Academy, a coaching program that helps aspiring toy inventors create and pitch their ideas to companies in a professional way, with the goal of empowering people to express their creative potential and creating great play pattens.
Florian Hess
In his role as Executive Board Member Fair Management, Florian Hess oversees trade fair organisation and marketing. He also looks after the network of representatives, the World of Toys international trade fair programme, and legal matters. Florian Hess joined Spielwarenmesse eG in 2016 as Director Fair Management where he was in charge of exhibitor activities across all trade-fair projects and their further development. After graduating in business administration, he gained extensive experience overseeing various strategy and change management projects abroad. He also organised a leading international exhibition for capital goods and was Managing Director of Hess Consulting GmbH – a service provider for trade fairs such as the Spielwarenmesse.
Frédérique Tutt
As the global toy industry advisor for Circana, Frédérique Tutt provides strategic insights and analysis to CEOs and other C-suite executives of global toy brands, manufacturers, retail partners, and licensors. Over her industry career spanning more than 20 years, Tutt also launched Circana’s EuroToys service in France and ran the firm’s UK Toys team.
A go-to expert on the $100 billon global toys sector, Tutt is a regular contributor to major media outlets such as The Times, Le Figaro, Les Echos, Le Monde, BBC, Dagbladet Børsen, The Grocer, and international trade magazines. She frequently delivers keynotes and trend presentations at top toy and entertainment events and conferences and has been a guest lecturer at the Angoulême University for Children Marketing Studies.
Tutt has a master’s degree in Marketing and Management from the Ecole Supérieure de Gestion in Paris, part of the Paris School of Business.
Pablo Busó
With more than 15 years’ experience in the toy sector, he holds a degree in Market Research and Techniques and a degree in Business Administration and Management, and is head of AIJU’s User Research area at AIJU, Spain.
He has extensive experience in the coordination and execution of national and European projects and tenders related to children’s research. He oversees the implementation of R&D projects in children’s products companies. His main lines of research are focused on the analysis of child user behaviour, lifestyles, consumer insights, emotional responses and user requirements, in addition to the validation of prototypes and technologies with users and companies. He has written several publications, articles and posts related to these topics. He has also participated in several international conferences as a speaker for the European Commission, the CEN, the Spielwarenmesse and various universities and associations.
Tessa Trabue
Tessa Trabue is a campaigner for Let Toys Be Toys, an award-winning UK based campaign challenging gender stereotypes in childhood, especially in toy marketing, publishing, education and the media. Tessa joined the campaign in early 2013 after being inspired to act when seeing the negative effects of gendered marketing on her young child. Let Toys Be Toys has successfully convinced 15 major UK toy retailers to remove ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ signposting in the toy aisles, and let children have the freedom to choose things that interest them most, free from gender stereotypes. The campaign is currently working with the toy industry to persuade manufacturers to make their packaging and advertising more inclusive.
Tessa is a founding member of the campaign’s offshoot Let Books Be Books, which has persuaded 11 children’s book publishers to drop the gendered labels. She is also co-founder of Let Toys Be Toys Toymark award, which celebrates UK retailers that model good practice in marketing to children. Tessa is a member of the UK Fawcett Society’s Commission on Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood. She has also acted as a toy judge two times each for the Science Toy Award and for the annual MadeforMums Toy Awards.
Vicki Thomas
Vicki Thomas studied how toy businesses innovated with plastics in the 1950s and 60s, whilst teaching product designers. The University of Northampton asked her to establish the Sustainable Futures Research Centre, and she then launched the Toy and Play Hub. The aim of both was to bring people and organisations together to collaborate on research around the use of more sustainable materials and processes. She is particularly interested in social change as sociologist (LSE) and design historian (MA RCA/V&A). So, is keen to encourage innovation and understand its impact on communities and the planet. Her consultancy, Vicki Thomas Associates, focuses on the things we create or buy to give to others and that of course includes toys and playthings.
Vivi Schytt
Vivi Schytt has been working with quality assurance and certification of toys since 2006 and has actively contributed to the standardisation of toys at industry level. Her company, Help2Comply, assists manufacturers and importers with compliance, documentation, and certification – including eco-labelling and CE marking.
With over two decades of experience in the toy industry, she has witnessed first-hand how sustainability has evolved from a niche concern to a core requirement alongside product safety. For Vivi, sustainability is about continuous improvement – combining safety, quality, and responsibility so that children can play with confidence, and the industry can develop in a more sustainable direction.
Her chemical engineering background and research in polymers give her a strong technical foundation for evaluating materials and sustainability claims.
